On November 23rd 2009 at Norwood Club in New York, JANERA and InterConnect Events present the great debate:
Will Green Put us in the Red?
Details:
6PM cocktails
7PM Debate and Q&A
Norwood Club, 241 W 14th St, New York
Tickets—only available in advance—are $45.
For Live Streaming, in case you cannot make it to the debate, please click here.
President Obama wants America to save the world from itself by capping carbon emissions and imposing “greener” demands on carmakers and utilities. As the richest country in the world—and the earth’s biggest producer of greenhouse gases—the U.S. must lead the way, supporters say.
But this green crusade has sparked a rising cry of outrage and opposition. Doubters warn of draconian measures that would slap a huge carbon tax on our own economy and hurt U.S. competitiveness. Furthermore, while Obama’s goal to reduce carbon emissions by 80% over the next 40 years is admirable, how are we going to wean ourselves off fossil fuels in just four decades?
China and India, meanwhile, balk at Obama’s big push and may simply keep growing and polluting, unrestrained by any restrictions. One looming dilemma: Is “climate change”—which activists had called “global warming” until that trend abated in recent years—a threat imminent enough to require drastic measures now, when the world’s still-ailing economies can least afford it?
We chose this topic leading up to December’s Copenhagen Climate Conference, intending to highlight some of the issues that will be addressed there, here in New York. We hope to raise awareness and ignite a lively conversation. This is an important issue and we bring both sides together to foster dialogue.
The debaters will be tackling questions like:
- How are we going to achieve these ambitious targets given that our entire economy has been built around the use of fossil fuels?
- Is climate change really a threat imminent enough to require drastic measures now, when the world’s still-ailing economies can least afford it?
- What timeframes should be used, and are realistic, to measure the impact of environmental policy changes?
RSVP today, as we tend to sell out!
And should you not be able to make it, watch the debate live online on FORA.tv. Remote viewers can also participate in the conversation and submit questions. Spread the word too! The more people who watch the debate and learn about the most pressing climate change issues, the better!
The dialogue will spark new ideas and—as in any debate—there will be a winner, chosen by the audience. Which team will prove most persuasive?
The passionate environmental defenders:
- Ralph Cavanagh, Senior Attorney and Co-Director, Energy Program, NRDC
- Eric Roston, Author and Senior Associate, The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University
Or
The fearless climate change skeptics:
- Steven Hayward, F.K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Ronald Bailey, Author and Science Correspondent, Reason magazine and Reason.com
Dennis Kneale, Anchor of CNBC’s Power Lunch will moderate.
This event is held in partnership with:
- Global Nomads Group, an international non-profit organization that fosters dialogue and understanding among the world’s youth, discusses these issues each year, with more than 15,000 young women and men from around the world.
- Tablet Hotels, Hotels for Global Nomads, represents exclusive, hand-picked luxury and boutique hotels worldwide.
Image by Garrison Photography
Tags: Climate Change, Copenhagen Conference, Dennis Kneale, Eric Roston, Interconnect Events, Ralph Cavanagh, Steve Hayward
Wow, Janera,
who the heck wrote this climate change event invitation (http://janera.com/?p=363)? I thought you considered your forum to be cosmopolitan, young, and progressive? “imposing “greener” demands on carmakers and utilities”, “green crusade” – what weird terminology! “wean ourselves off fossil fuels in just four decades” – in light of a paek of oil that we might well have passed already and oil and gas prices going through the roof in the next 5 years (wanna bet?), what alternative are you offering?
“China and India, meanwhile, balk at Obama’s big push and may simply keep growing and polluting, unrestrained by any restrictions.” – What big push? And what blind rhetoric this is! China (one fifth of US per capita emissions) and India (one twentieth!) have ALREADY reduced more tons of greenhouse gas emissions (if you count in the measures they are currently implementing) than the reductions the US ENVISIONS in both the House ans Senate bills until 2020; there are stronger policies in place and more money goes into new renewable and efficiency investments in China than in is even under consideration in the US; the 7th richest Chinese is a producer of photovoltaics and while more than half of the Indian population doesn’t even have access to electricity yet, wind and biomass is booming there and expanding at a faster rate than in the US.
And who told you that the ““global warming” (…) trend abated in recent years”? – Despite the fact that “climate change” is indeed a better term – since it captures a wider range of the severe weather disruptions that are already happening and 99% of scientists expected to grow both in number and intensity in the future (there has not been ONE peer-reviewed journal article in the last 15 years doubting the adverse effects of human behavior on the climate system) – the average worldwide temperature effect of climate change is of course one of warming. The warming effect has in fact intensified over the last decade, not abated. If you seriously doubt this, please look up the reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a UN advisory council bringing together the 2000+ leading climate experts – but please do NOT call people following their scientific reviews “alarmists” anymore.
And finally: is climate change “a threat imminent enough to require drastic measures now, when the world’s still-ailing economies can least afford it?” Oh jee, ever heard about the opportunities of a 3rd industrial revolution, pioneers’ advantages, new markets, green growth and green jobs, and the competitive advantages of more energy-efficient economies? Germany, home to automakers BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, and Opel, will employ more people in the environmental than in the automobile sector as early as 2015. And while you hear these success stories from all over the world, the US is still complaining that it might have to give up its fossil life style.
While you plan to have proponents and opponents of climate legislation on your panel, your invitation from its title (“Will Green Put Us in the Red?”) to its very end reads more like one sent out by CATO or the Heritage foundation – or a commentary by Glen Beck.
I am shocked.
Best,
Alex
Congratulations on organizing this debate!
Finally, the question of human-caused global warming will be subjected to a rational discussion (hopefully).
Finally the voice of doubters will be heard over the ignorance of the media in simply repeating but not understanding.
Finally, the views of the 100 prominent scientists who wrote a letter to the UN questioning human-caused-global warming may be heard.
Finally, the convential wisdom is beginning to be challenged.
Finally, the tide of blindly following the falsehood of Mr. Al Gore’s conclusion that correlation between CO2 and global warming is causation will be exposed. Obviously Mr. Gore is unable to differentiate the two, and therein lies the foundation of the mass hysteria about human-caused global warming. On with the debate! May science win!
Gary Schwendiman, Ph.D.